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Black Friday has come and gone, and once again, I didn’t go out and play.

I don’t get it, I truly don’t. Why would anyone go hit the most popular stores on the most crowded day of the year? Sure, there are good deals – but if you shop carefully, there will be good deals at various times throughout the year.

Retailers are reporting a slump this season. In my opinion, it’s backlash, a rebellion against the ever-earlier Christmas decor and merchandising, as well as a statement about the obnoxious advertising encouraging us to buy more, bigger, better.

As I’ve written before, I am not a fan of the typical consumer-driven Christmas celebration. I don’t believe that’s what the holiday is about, even at its most secular.

While I do enjoy buying gifts for others, and tend to be a bit too extravagant, the last thing I personally need is more stuff. I have too many personal possessions – clothes, music, electronics – and should be simplifying and cutting back, not trying to figure out how to fit more into my life.

What’s Christmas about, for me? Caring for family. Showing generousity. Building traditions. Loving others more than you do yourself. Remembering the original gift, of God’s son to the world, if that’s your belief system. The quiet snow and dark gloominess of midwinter.

This year, my family on both sides is just doing presents for the kids. We adults are exchanging charity donations. I’m really thankful to my family for that, to me it’s truly a Christmas gift.

I’m making a Christmas resolution: I will not stress. It’ll be hard to keep, but I’ll try!

Nanowrimo update: I’m behind but catching up, at 36,458 words.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2007
by Jeri
and is filed under consumers, holidays.
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One Response to “Black Friday”

Hey you!
I just checked the NaNo site and saw that your word count is way up there, very close to 50K. That’s great!
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We too are just doing kids’ gifts for the most part. It’s made Christmas much more enjoyable/manageable for the adults.
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Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving by the way. Should’ve said that first!